Outside the new Community Garden, near the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny was holding a giant pair of scissors in front of a rainbow ribbon. At her side, there was Hitch wearing a sheriff hat, while Knuckles stood at his side wearing his cowboy hat. Both of them were guarding up since they were the law in Maretime Bay.
Also, if you're wondering, the ponies already apologized to Sunny for how they treated her about the whole Alicorn-thing. Hitch even congratulated Knuckles for standing as a law figure and make sure the ponies learned their lesson.
Now, the ponies were reunited outside the new Community Garden for the grand opening.
"Thank you, everypony, for coming to the grand opening of Maretime Bay's new Community Garden of Magic!" Sunny announced to the crowd.
The rest of their friends and Sparky where part of the crowd as well, as they all cheered to Sunny.
"Yeah! Community Garden! Woo!" Izzy cheered.
Inside the garden, many of Hitch's critters where passing around happily.
"This will be your place to grow fresh food, foster friendships, and have fun in the fields!" Sunny assured to the crowd with a smile, then she looked at Hitch and extended the scissors to him. "Take it away, Sheriff Hitch!" she told him with a smile.
"Thanks, Sunny!" Hitch said with a smile, taking the scissors. "I'm very excited to––" he tried to said, but Izzy cut him off.
"Aw yeah!" Izzy cheered. "That's our friend! Nopony interrupt him when he talks!" she shouted, while Pipp and Zipp looked at each other with smiles at the unicorn's attitude, Tails giggled a bit and Sonic rolled his eyes with a smile.
"Oh, ah... Thanks Izzy" Hitch said with a little smile, then he cleared his throat. "Welcome, everypony! As Sunny said, this garden is the best place in town to learn how to harness your earth pony magic––" he tried to explain, but then Sunny interrupted him.
"Floral Magic!" Sunny said with a smile.
Zipp then brought her phone out and recorded a note. "Note to self: Earth pony powers are officially called 'Floral Magic'" she recorded with a smile, while Pipp at her side looked at her annoyed. "Hmm, I like it!" she said.
"Yeah, sounds cool" Tails added with a smile.
But then both Pipp and Sonic shushed them, while Izzy joined them suddenly. "Don't interrupt him!" she shouted to Zipp and Tails.
And then Knuckles cleared his throat loud enough so Izzy could heard him. "Are you done now so we can keep going?!" he asked with anger, while Izzy blushed and nodded with a sheepish smile. "Good. Keep going, sheriff" he told Hitch.
"Thanks, deputy" Hitch said with a smile. "So yeah, that's what we've been calling it! You know, because of the unicorn Float Magic and pegasi Flight Magic, it's kind of a natural thing to name it..." he tried to point out.
"Cough cough, get to the point, cough cough" Knuckles said in whispers, but loud enough for Hitch to heard him.
"Right, I'm rambling!" Hitch said. "As sheriff of Maretime Bay, it is my duty and great honor to hereby dedicate this garden to––" he tried to say, but an earth pony stallion among the crowd interrupted him.
"Do we each get our own spot?!" the stallion asked.
"Yes" Hitch replied, and Sparky among the crowd belched. "There are 'practice plots' inside, ready for you to start planting and growing––" he tried to explain again, but then Sparky belched on a carrot he was carrying and his dragon fire turn it into a small confetti canon that he made explode.
The sudden explosion of confetti startled the Mane 5 and Team Sonic. Hitch threw the scissors in the air because of the surprise, and the scissors ended cutting the ribbon.
"It's open!" one stallion of the crowd shouted. "I call best spot!" he said, as he and all of the ponies on the crowd ran towards the garden.
"Slow down!" Hitch ordered to them, but since none of them obeyed, Knuckles grabbed the two earth ponies and moved aside.
Once they were safe, Hitch ran between the crowd and grabbed Sparky before he got hurt, and the ponies entered the garden on stampede, startling the critters inside and making them ran away terrified.
"There's enough room for everypony!" Hitch assured to them.
However, Curtle was also there, in the middle of the way, and one of the ponies accidentally kicked him and send him flying in the air.
"I got him!" Sonic shouted, running to catch the turtle. He managed to grab him in time before he hit the ground and get hurt. Sonic sighed in relief and putted the turtle over Sunny's Smoothie Stand, since it was near the garden today and Curtle almost crashed against it as well. "There you go, little buddy" he told to Curtle with a smile, while the turtle pocked his head out of his shell and slurped a bit from one of the smoothie, which made Sonic roll his eyes with a smile.
"Curtle says Thank You, Sonic" Hitch told the hedgehog. "I am good at dedication speeches, maybe too good" he said with a nervous smile, looking at the chaos inside the Community Garden.
"If getting almost stomped by your own citizens it's a sign of your 'good speeches', then I don't wanna imagine what could be the results of a bad speech of yours" Knuckles stated a bit uncomfortable, while Hitch just looked at him with a bored expression.
Later on, the earth ponies where around the Community Garden, practicing their new Flower Magic while some foals ran around happily, and then there was the critters, that kept running in panic of the ponies.
One of the bunnies ran towards Hitch, Sunny and Knuckles and squeaked at Hitch. "What was that?" Hitch asked him, while Sunny and Knuckles looked at him a bit worried and the bunny squeaked at Hitch again. "Don't worry, I'll fix this" he assured to the bunny with a smile.
"What's going on?" Sunny asked Hitch with worry.
"My speech might have made the earth ponies too excited" Hitch explained nervously, as he and Sunny looked at three earth pony stallions stomping their hooves on the earth. "They're kinda... trampling everything!" he pointed out.
"Next time, do a boring speech or something" Knuckles suggested, while both Sunny and Hitch looked at him with bored expressions. "Just kidding, man. Yikes, you take this stuff way too serious" he added.
"What do we do?" Sunny asked Hitch about the thing with the earth ponies stomping on the earth.
Knuckles quickly acted and whistled loudly, which made the earth ponies to stop and pay attention to him and Hitch.
"Watch your hooves everypony!" Hitch ordered.
Immediately, the earth ponies stopped, and they realized that the accidentally stomped some flowers and killed them.
"But also, don't worry!" Sunny said with a smile. "With a little bit of love, I'm sure we can fix it!" she assured.
"Oh, yeah, I guess we can!" one earth pony stallion said with a smile, and then all the earth ponies used their magic to make the flowers grow back.
However, they also made some of the fruits and vegetables of the garden grow a bit bigger and fell from their roots, which almost fell in the critters that ran away from the garden, while Sunny, Hitch and Knuckles looked at them with worry.
Also, some fruits almost fell in Hitch. "Whoa! Careful there! We don't want another Glimmerberry incident on our hooves. Or on our manes" he said a bit worried, also remembering when Sprout made a Glimmerberry grow very big... twice in the same day.
"That's exactly why a designated spot to practice is perfect" Sunny pointed out, walking towards some giant fruits. "And look at all these amazing fruits!" she said with a smile. "Like those! Uh, what are those?" she asked to one of the earth pony stallions.
"Pearnana-melons!" the stallion replied with a smile, holding one of those fruits.
"Okay, that actually sounds really tasty" Hitch confessed with a confident smile. "Go ahead and get creative, everypony" he stated. "But let's just be mindful of the..." he tried to add, but then the critter ran around the garden in fright. "Wildlife" he finished with a worried expression.
"I guess we'll have to worry about the critters too, then..." Knuckles pointed out.
The critters where all running towards the Crystal Brighthouse, while Zipp, Pipp, Sonic and Tails looked at them worried.
"Oh, I can't even belizzle my eyes!" Izzy said cheerfully. "It's like a parade, but not on purpose" she added.
"Belizzle?" Zipp asked her confused, since that wasn't a word at all.
"I said what I said!" Izzy stated with a smile. "Just look at these animals going wild!" she said, trying to sound optimistic but also a bit worried.
"Ah! Great idea, Izz! Cute animals are great for the feed" Pipp told her with a smile, as she grabbed one of the bunnies and looked at it with a soft smile. Sonic looked at her sideways, and he smiled and blushed a bit at her attitude towards the bunny. However, when she took out her phone to try and take a picture of the bunny, he shouted and jumped away from Pipp. "I can't even... I don't have words..." Pipp said a bit confused.
The bunny jumped and immediately attached to Sonic's leg, as he started to shake a bit afraid. Some other animals also approached to Sonic as well, and the hedgehog couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Hey, slow down, little buddies! That tickles!" he told the critters, as he started to laugh a bit more.
"I thought Hitch was the critters magnet" Zipp said jokingly with a smirk.
"He spend years saving them from Eggman's machines" Tails explained, as he had some animals over him too. "I guess it's him the one who has a special connection with animals" he added with a smile, rubbing a bunny's head.
"Besides, it's part of my charm" Sonic said jokingly. Then he grabbed the bunny that got attached to his leg and rubbed his head, while the bunny squeaked happily. "It's okay, little guy. I can assure you Pipp's someone amazing. She won't hurt you, I promise" he said with a soft and caring tone towards the animal.
The way Sonic started to talk about her to calm the bunny down made Pipp not only blush until her whole face was red, but also her heart melt and jump of joy. She also smiled a bit, and she had to resist the urge to squeal like a little filly.
"Oh oh..." Izzy's voice called out suddenly, and all the rest looked on the same direction that her.
"Oh, no! The critters are stampeding towards the Brighthouse!" Pipp said with worry and panic.
"Get out of the way, us!" Zipp said, as they all immediately pulled themselves aside, except for Pipp who checked at something on her phone.
However, one of the critters jumped on her face, which made her fell backwards and lay in the ground.
Some other critters were running towards Izzy, and she looked around in panic until she got an idea: she used her magic to levitate herself, and the critters passed down her. "I got it!" she said with a smile, but then some squirrels passed and their tails made Izzy sneeze and float backwards to crash against Zipp, with both of them falling in the ground. "Huh. Maybe I didn't 'got it'" Izzy said jokingly.
Pipp, Sonic and Tails approached them, with Pipp holding the bunny that ran from her earlier. She gave the bunny to Sonic, and he putted the critter on his head, while the bunny put himself comfortable in it. "Well, I did!" Pipp said, since she recorded the exact moment Izzy crashed against Zipp, with Tails chuckling a little. "And... posted" Pipp said with a smile, posting the video on her feed.
"Great..." Zipp said sarcastically.
"Why are you all layin' around?" Hitch asked, arriving with the other 5. "I need backup with these critters!" he stated with worry.
"Dude, besides the bunny on my head, these critters refuse to listen" Sonic pointed out with a bored expression.
"Can't you just ask them to chill out?" Zipp asked Hitch, as she and Izzy stood up and Pipp checked on her phone.
"Yeah, you're the one that can talk 'animal', we barely could make the bunny listen us" Tails said with a frown. "And by 'we', I mean the love birds" he said, now with a bored expression and pointing at Sonic and Pipp.
"Love birds?" both Sonic and Pipp asked confused, while Tails just groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Just because I speak 'animal' doesn't mean they'll listen" Hitch pointed out with worry. "So, can you help?!" he asked desperately.
"And what are we getting if we help you?" Sonic asked with a smirk. Pipp, despite paying more attention to her phone, kicked Sonic with her hind leg. "I kid, I kid" he said immediately, still calmed. "We'll take care of the critters, sheriff" he assured with a smile.
"Sorry, what? I wasn't listening" Pipp said with a nervous smile, since she was too focused on her phone.
"See?!" Hitch pointed out.
"Of course we'll be your deputies!" Izzy said with a smile, with the others sins Tails nodding in agreement. "Temporary, that is" she added, since Knuckles was the actual deputy.
"Speaking of deputies, can we borrow Knuckles for a sec?" Sonic asked.
"I was going to send him to help you, actually, because while you all handle the critters, I gotta get back to the garden" Hitch explained. "Sunny seemed stressed" he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Sunny was catching some fruits that kept falling on the Community Garden, starting to feel both stressed and anxious about that.
Hitch decided to return with her, and Knuckles arrived to be of service to the others. Tails left too, since he always helped Sunny with the smoothies.
"Don't be stressed, Sunny! We're deputies now!" Izzy shouted out loud. "We're going to help!" she assured, with the rest sins Sonic nodding in agreement.
"I suddenly have the feeling she'll be more stressed now" Sonic said with a bored expression, then he looked at the bunny still on his head and smiled. "What do you say, little guy? Are you up to help us?" he asked the bunny, who clapped his ears in excitement.
"Aww!" both Pipp and Izzy said to the bunny's response.
"I'm taking that as a yes" Sonic said with a smile.
Meanwhile, Hitch and Tails arrived to Sunny's stand and found Cloudpuff there. "Cloudpuff! What are you doing here?" Hitch asked to the dog, who barked at him in response. "Keeping an eye on Pipp and Zipp for Queen Haven, huh?" he translated. "Yeah, that does sound boring. Want to help me instead?" he asked to the dog, while Cloudpuff barked happily in response.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline was mixing some ingredients, with Misty looking on unsure and Eggman helping out as well.
"What is lacked in magical might, conjure from my Alicorn light!" Opaline recited. However, her magic started to glitch out, and she couldn't made her horn glow properly, sho she groaned in anger.
"So... do you need anything?" Misty asked a bit nervous.
Before Opaline exploded at her, Eggman quickly replied. "Thanks for the offer, Misty, dear. But right now we're fine on our own" he said, patting her on the head a little. "She just need to focus better" he said with annoyance, now looking at Opaline with a frown.
"I was doing fine, until you ruined my concentration" Opaline complained at him.
"Oh, sure! Blame your own allies about your own failures" Eggman complained back.
"That's rich coming from you, Ivo" Opaline retorted.
"At least I admitted that Sonic and Tails kicked my butt days ago, but I've never heard you accepting that Twilight Sparkle defeated you" Eggman stroke back.
Opaline groaned at him with anger. But then she sighed a bit worried and gave her back to Eggman. "You know that my power is... compromised" she said.
"If this is an attempt to make us or the audience feel sympathy for you, then try harder because I have no idea what are you talking about" Eggman said with a bored expression.
"Me neither" Misty said.
"Good answers" Opaline said with a smile, while Eggman felt more confused. "But it doesn't change the fact that it's still not enough. Magic is back, doctor. It's back, and those silly little ponies have it by accident!" she cried out with rage.
"Accident? We can try that, too!" Misty suggested, pushing one potion over a small cart that had plenty of them.
"Stop!" Opaline ordered, and Misty caught the bottle before it fell. "That silly Unity magic is just the spark" she stated, levitating a bottle with her magic, one again working properly, and then she flew over to her boiler. "Only I can posses the flame!" she stated, dropping the content of the bottle in the boiler.
Soon enough, the boiler worked it's magic and a bubble with a fully pink pega-mouse came out of it.
"Aw!" Misty said at the sight of the critter, while Eggman scratched his head confused.
"Don't get attached, Misty" Opaline warned her. "It's a sign of weakness" she stated.
"Oh, I wasn't!" Misty said with a sheepish smile. "I was just impressed by your magic" she assured a bit nervously.
"Of course you were" Opaline said with pride. "Nothing is more important than magic" she assured.
"I could list a few things, but I don't want my mustache to end up roasted, so I'll shut my mouth" Eggman said.
Opaline rolled her eyes, and send the pega-mouse in the bubble through the image of the Crystal Brighthouse. "And when my magic mouse sneaks into their magic house, I will finally know the secret of how they're harnessing the Prisbeam power" she stated with an evil grin, while Misty sighed worried and Eggman rubbed his chin.
I just hope you have better luck than I with this plan, Opaline... Eggman though a little worried.
Back at the Community Garden, the earth ponies were enjoying their time on it as they also drink from the smoothies of Sunny's stand. Sunny was talking with an earth pony mare, while Tails gave a smoothie to an earth pony colt, when Hitch arrived suddenly with Sparky on his back.
"Sunny?! Are you okay?" Hitch asked to her with worry.
"Yeah, just serving up some smoothies! And Tails it's helping too, of course" Sunny said with a smile, pointing at Tails who just smiled at Hitch as he kept using the blender, creating other smoothie. "Are you okay?" she asked back to Hitch, giving a smoothie to another pony.
"Yeah, just taking care of the animals!" Hitch assured with a smile. However, Tails popped his head from behind Sunny and looked at Hitch with a bored expression, since he knew Hitch was lying because the ones taking care of the critters at full where the rest back at the Brighthouse.
"Good so we're both okay" Sunny stated with a smile, giving a smoothie to Dahlia while Tails decided to get back to work.
Hitch then sighed heavily. "Too bad the dedication was a disaster" he said a bit disappointed. "Did I ruin it?" he asked her.
"Not at all" Sunny assured with a smile. "But I actually think it gave everypony a chance to practice their magic while fixing the mess" she said, as he brought out a smoothie with a little trick and gave it to an earth pony mare. "Easy sugar snap peasy!" she stated with a chill tone.
"Easy sugar snap peasy?" Hitch asked a bit offended. "Easy for you to say, you're not sheriff" he stated, turning around and walking away from her.
That made Tails twitched, as he turned and looked at the two ponies with horror. "Oh no..." he said with worry, and then he accidentally broke the mixer. "Whoops!" he said, quickly using his new ability to fix it.
"What does that mean?" Sunny asked to Hitch, who stopped and sighed frustrated.
"It was supposed to be my moment. I had Big Scissors! I'm in charge" Hitch said with disappointment. "I shouldn't be encouraging chaos and smoothies!" he said with worry.
Then, somepony snapped a picture at Hitch and Sunny giving a smoothie to Windy. "'Chaos and smoothies'? Now there's a headline!" an old unicorn stallion said, as he walked away alongside Windy.
"What's wrong with smoothies?" Sunny asked Hitch with a little frown.
"Nothing!" Hitch replied, frowning as well. "But I have the hardest job of anypony and what-pony notices it?" he asked a bit mad.
"Great, they're having one of their 'married couple' fights again..." Tails said with a bored expression to himself.
While Sunny got out of her stand to talk with Hitch, the bubble with the pink pega-mouse Opaline send appeared and popped on the stand and ran out of it.
"Well, have you noticed how hard I've been working?" Sunny asked with a frown to Hitch. "I've been making smoothies during this entire conversation!" she pointed out with anger, showing a smoothie on her hoof.
"True... But come on, it's not like being a sheriff" Hitch said with a confident smirk.
"Yes, it is" Sunny replied.
In the meantime, Sparky started to chase Opaline's mouse around while Hitch and Sunny kept fighting over who had the worst work.
"Well, you got help from Tails!" Hitch pointed out.
"Don't drag me to your 'marriage problems' with Sunny, Hitch!" Tails warned from the stand, as he turned the blender on.
"And you have help from Knuckles!" Sunny pointed out as well, ignoring Tails comment.
"Well, your job it's easier than maintaining order" Hitch added with a frown, while Sparky kept chasing the mouse around and then Cloudpuff joined him barking.
"This is going to take a while..." Tails said with a bored expression, looking at Hitch and Sunny fighting like a married couple.
On the other hand, Hitch's actual deputy and the temporal deputies where trying to keep the critters away from the Brighthouse.
Izzy was having a staring contest against a bunny. After a while she shook her head and launched herself against the bunny to grab him, but the bonny moved before Izzy could even touch him, and she landed grunting in the ground, while the bunny jumped on her back.
Pipp arrived soon enough to her side and grabbed the bunny with her hooves, but then both she and Izzy saw the critters running towards them.
"Okay, so they're coming right for us" Izzy pointed out. "But I have a plan! I think... we should stop them!" she stated with confidence, pointing at the critters.
"Smart, smart. What's the plan?" Pipp asked her.
"Let me guess: stop them it's the plan, isn't it?" Knuckles asked with a bored expression, carrying some bunnies and armadillos on his arms.
"Yup!" Izzy replied with a cheery smile.
"Why am I not surprised?" Knuckles asked himself.
Then, the three of them ducked as a pega-mouse and Zipp passed over them. "Heads up, guys!" she warned.
Since they ducked, Knuckles accidentally let go all the critter he captured, and some of them launched over them. Meanwhile, Sonic was talking with the same bunny from before who managed to gather some of his bunny friends and calm them down.
"Now that's better" Sonic said with a smile. "So, what do you guys say about doing a little space in the Brighthouse for you to stay and play around? That way Hitch won't feel so stressed over you" he suggested, and the bunnies clapped their ears in excitement. "Guess you like the idea, then!" Sonic said, smiling even more.
Back with Sunny and Hitch, they were greeting the ponies that passed by while Sunny and Tails kept giving smoothies to the ponies and Sparky and Cloudpuff kept chasing Opaline's mouse.
"I don't think you understand how much pressure I'm under all the time!" Hitch complained to Sunny.
"Of course I do!" Sunny assured with an eye roll. "Do you even know how hard it is to be the Alicorn in Maretime Bay?!" she questioned to him with concern. "Everypony's watching. I need to be a pony that others can count on" she pointed out.
"So do I!" Hitch assured, while Sunny just groaned in annoyance. "The sheriff is the backbone of a community, you know?!" he told her with a frown.
"You just don't understand what it's like to be me! And you never will!" both Sunny and Hitch shouted to each other.
Then, Opaline's mouse passed in front of them, and Sparky tripped trying to catch him. His trip made some dust that made him sneeze a small dragon flame in the ground that spreed and grow big enough to cover Sunny and Hitch. The magical properties of the flame made Sunny's and Hitch's Cutie Marks exchange, but it passed unnoticed by both of them. Not even Tails noticed, since he was inside of the stand, whispering a tune to himself and using the blender.
Once the fire dissipated, Sunny and Hitch shook their heads and looked at each other, then looked away from the other madly.
That didn't went unnoticed by Tails who lay on the stand's bar and looked at the two ponies with a smirk. "You know, this could be easily solved if you two just got a room already" he said in a mocking tone.
Both Hitch and Sunny opened their eyes wide, and looked at Tails frowning and blushing. "Shut up, Tails!" they both scolded him, while Tails just pulled out his tongue mockingly and got back to work with a chuckle.
Back at the Brighthouse, Izzy and Pipp took out some critters from the Brighthouse, while Knuckles did his best to keep them away from the main entrance.
"There, now you're back outside" Izzy said with a smile, while Pipp let go the bunny on her hooves and Izzy putted the one she was levitating on her hoof.
"Who's a cute bunny? You are! Yes, you are!" Pipp told to a bunny before letting him go with giggles.
"Aw!" Izzy said, as the bunny hopped away.
However, Opaline's mouse managed to enter the Brighthouse, with Sparky and Cloudpuff following behind. But then Cloudpuff crashed against Sparky and they both fell in the ground.
"Cloudpuff? What are you doing here?" Pipp asked to the dog. "Ugh! Mom send you to check on me, didn't she?" she asked again with annoyance, as she got close to the dog and grabbed him, while Izzy used her magic to levitate Sparky away. "Aw! You're so cute!" Pipp told to cloudpuff as both she and Izzy walked and flied away from the Brighthouse, letting the door open and allowing other ponies to enter the place.
Inside, Sonic was with the bunny of before drawing some blue prints on the place the animals wanted to build up as their play spot.
"Okay... so it would look like this at the end" Sonic said, showing the drawing to the bunnies and other critters that arrived to listen as well. "So, what do you think?" he asked them. The bunnies clapped the ears again, and the other critters cheered on their own way, while Sonic's smile grew bigger. "Great! Now, let me gather some materials and––" he tried to say, but then Knuckles entered and looked at him confused.
"Uh, Hedgehog? What are you doing?" Knuckles questioned.
"I'm showing these guys their new playing spot!" Sonic explained. "You know, since they like to stay around Hitch, and Hitch likes to pop around frequently, I think what they need is a place on the Brighthouse to play. That way, Hitch will feel less stressed" he pointed out with a smile.
"Hmm..." Knuckles said, as he analyzed Sonic for a second.
"What?" Sonic asked a bit confused.
"Is it just me, or has this place softened you, Hedgehog?" Knuckles questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Nah, I'm the same old Sonic that loves adventure and kick Eggman's butt" Sonic assured with a smirk. "It's just... saving animals lives from Eggman's claws made a big connection between me and the wildlife" he confessed. "I guess I want to give these critters the same protection before Eggman decides to capture them as well... also, that little guy over there is too adorable to ignore" he added, looking at the bunny that has been attached to him the whole day. "How should I call you, by the way?" he asked the bunny.
"Should I get Hitch? He could tell you his name" Knuckles pointed out.
"Nah, I don't wanna bother him" Sonic said. "Hmm... how about... Floppy?" he suggested to the bunny, who's eyes sparkled and he launched himself against Sonic, nuzzling on his chest softly. "I guess that you liked, huh?" Sonic asked with a smile. "You either didn't had a name, or I just guessed right. Either way, I'm happy to help, Floppy" he told the bunny, standing up with him on his arms and looking back at Knuckles. "So, what do you say, Knucklehead? Care to help?" he asked the echidna with a smile, showing him the blue print of the play spot for the critters.
Knuckles looked at the blue prints, then at Sonic, then at the critters, and then he smiled. "You know what? Let's do it! It can even be a surprise for the sheriff" he said with a confident smile, with the critters around clapping and cheering at Sonic and Knuckles.
Back at the smoothie stand, things got a bit weird since Sunny and Hitch were acting... different, to say the least.
"Everypony be happy!" Hitch said on a very cheery tone, very weird of him. Zipp was flying near by, and noticed that, so she looked at the two ponies curiously. "Follow your feels. You do you" he added, still on a cherry tone.
"Hitch, you're not helping" Sunny said suddenly, as she delivered some smoothies to the ponies, while Tails inside kept making them. "I have a line and nopony is asking for anything on the menu. We need order! And we needed now!" she pointed out with a frown.
"Uh, Sunny?" Tails called to her. "Are you okay? You seemed a bit more stressed than usual..." he pointed out a little worry.
"Ugh! I'm stressed because there's no order in here!" Sunny shouted at him. "Now get back to your work!" she scolded.
"If you're still mad at the 'get a room' joke, then grow up, because I was just messing with you two" Tails said with a bored expression, as he got back inside the stand.
"Tails is right, Sunny" Hitch said with a bright smile. "Just do what you think is right, you know? Go with your glow" he added with a chill tone.
Then, a pony threw an empty cup on the ground, and Sunny saw that with a frown. "Litter? Bup, bup, bup! Better pick up that cup!" she scolded the pony, who picked up the cup with a sheepish smile.
"They're acting weird. Very, very weird" Zipp pointed out, flying towards the two ponies with her phone ready to record. "Hi friends. What's up?" she asked to both of them.
"Kinda busy, Zipp" Sunny replied coldly.
Zipp landed and zoomed her camera to Hitch. "Hey Zipp!" he greeted her with a cheery smile. "Want to help me show ponies around the magical garden?" he asked her happily.
"Why are you talking like that?" Zipp asked him confused, moving the camera towards Sunny now, who was talking with Kenneth and Curtle.
"I can understand that you want something, but I don't know exactly..." Sunny confessed to the critters. "Maybe pearnana-melon?" she asked them, giving a pearnana-melon smoothie to Kenneth, but the tiny bit he slurped he spitted out.
"This doesn't make any sense" Zipp said with worry. "You two seem... How do I put this... off?" she stated nervously.
But before saying anything else, Tails arrived at her side, hugging her tightly as he started to panic, while Zipp just blushed since she wasn't used to show affection in public. "Zipp! Thank Chaos you are here!" he said with pure panic on his voice. "These two have been like this for the last 20 minutes, and I'm starting to losing it!" he cried out, shaking the mare desperately.
Zipp didn't had other option but slap Tails so he could calm down. "Can you chill out, please?" she asked him, while Tails rubbed his cheek as he started to calm himself down.
"Sorry..." Tails apologized.
"Good, now..." Zipp said, turning back to Sunny and Hitch. "Who's gonna explain me why you two are so weird today?" she asked them.
"Ugh, ever since Hitch started that argument, I've felt off" Sunny said with a frown.
"What?!" Hitch snapped at her. "No way, you started it!" he said, pointing at her madly and looking away offended.
"Zipp, please do something before I use my powers to do something I know I will regret later..." Tails told her on a begging tone. Zipp looked at Sunny's flank with Hitch's Cutie Mark on it, then at Hitch's flank with Sunny's Cutie Mark on it. She kept doing the same a few times, until she finally realized what was wrong and gasped. "What? Did you found what's wrong with them? Tails asked her. Instead of directly respond, Zipp pointed first at Sunny's flank, then at Hitch's flank, and realization hit Tails as well. "Oh no..." he muttered with worry.
"Sunny! Hitch! Stop!" Zipp instructed to her friends, who looked at her confused. "Now, don't freak out, but..." she told slowly and calm, which made Sunny and Hitch to look at her a bit scared now.
"Your Cutie Marks! They're switched!" Tails shouted in panic.
"They are?!" both Sunny and Hitch asked, looking at their flanks, and checking that indeed, their Cutie Marks were switched. "Oh! They are!" the two ponies cried out.
"No, no, no!" Sunny cried out with worry and panic. "How did this happen?!" she questioned.
"I don't know" Zipp replied, pulling out her phone again. "But I'll get to the bottom... of it" she assured with a sheepish smile, while Tails at her side chuckled at the terrible pun. "You say you started feeling funny when, exactly?" she interrogated them.
"When I was explaining to Hitch how running a smoothie cart isn't always smooth sailing" Sunny started to explain.
"And then I told her I knew that, and it hardly compares to the pressures of being sheriff!" Hitch added.
"Mh-hmm" Zipp said, as she wrote down what they told her on her phone. "Then what?" she asked them.
"I told them to get a room already" Tails said suddenly at Zipp's side with a smirk.
That just made Zipp threw her phone and burst out laughing, loosing all her 'professionalism' because of Tails' joke. "I-I'm so–– I'm so sorry..." Zipp said in between laughs, while Hitch blushed but frowned at them and Sunny's cheeks puffed out with a frown as well.
"I regret nothing!" Tails stated, before going back to the smoothie cart, while Zipp finally managed to calm down from the laughs.
"T-Then Sparky burped and––" Sunny tried to add, but then Hitch cut her off.
"That was not a burp. It was a hiccup" Hitch pointed out.
"It was not!" Sunny stated with a frown, facing Hitch with anger.
"Cutie Marks swapped... and personalities, too!" Zipp said, still writing down on her phone. "I think I might know what's going on here" she stated, closing her phone and putting it away. "Catch you on the flippity-flip!" she said, turning around and getting ready to fly away.
"Wait!" Hitch stopped her. "Are you not going to help us figure out how to switch back?!" he asked with panic.
"Not until I confirm my theory!" Zipp replied, and then flew away.
Now, Sunny and Hitch looked at each other a bit uncomfortable. "So... Uh, we're stuck like this" Sunny said with a nervous smile. "I guess I'll do your job for now" she said, now smiling normally while Hitch smiled back.
"Good" Hitch replied. "Then I will have it easy when I do yours!" he stated confidently.
"Ha!" Sunny said, as she took Hitch's sheriff hat off and putted on her. "Not as easy as me" she stated confidently as well.
"As if!" Hitch said mockingly, while Sunny took his badge away from his belt and putted it on her bag. "Alright! Who wants smoothies?" he asked, still very confidently.
"I'm staying here with you to show you that this isn't as easy as you think" Tails stated with a confident smirk.
"We'll see about that, Tails" Hitch mocked him.
Meanwhile, Sunny approached to some critters with confidence. "Okay, critters. Sheriff Sunny here" she presented herself. "Let's get you all back to your homes in the garden" she told them, as the critter turned around and walked towards the garden.
Then, on the smoothie stand, Hitch tripped and grabbed two smoothies, while a lot of ponies bombed him with smoothie requests. "Ah! Okay!" Hitch cried out, feeling overwhelmed once again.
"Got some problems, Hitch?" Tails asked on a mocking tone towards him.
Back with Sunny and the critters, the animals kept escaping from the Community Garden while Sunny approached them.
"Alright, critters, there's a new sheriff in town" Sunny told them with a frown. However, the critters split and ran in different directions away from her. "You can understand me, right?" she asked them, then she tripped with a pearnana-melon and feel in the ground with a groan, while some of the critters approached her. "Then why aren't you listening?!" she cried out with frustration.
Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, some of the critters where playing around the kitchen and the living room. And for reasons that not even I understand, McSnips was break dancing on the dinner table. Izzy and Pipp saw all the chaos around, and felt worried.
"This is not good" Izzy stated with worry.
Then, Opaline's mouse passed besides Sparky, who started to follow it again.
Pipp flew over a squirrel and grabbed it. "Gotcha! Don't worry, we've got this!" she told to Izzy with a smile, and then she flew out to put the squirrel outside. "Now, stay!" she pled to the critter, flying back inside.
Then, Knuckles came inside the place lifting a small rusty bench that he and Sonic were going to recycle to use its materials for the critter's play spot. Sonic, on the other hand, was searching for some kitchen tools they would recycle as well. However, Floppy squeaked at him trying to say something.
"What's the matter, little buddy?" Sonic asked him, and Floppy replied by pointing at his own mouth with his ear. "Oh, you're hungry, huh? Well, I think I got just what you need..." Sonic said, ducking down on a cabinet and looking for some snacks. "Uh... where are the––?" he tried to question, but then he heard Izzy's voice.
"Look what I found!" Izzy told Pipp, levitating a box of snacks that had Cloudpuff's face on it. "'Snackerdoodles: Perfect for Cloudpuff or any critter who needs to be convinced to just go outside already!'" she read on the box's label. "Hey, that's perfect!" she said, running towards the exit with the box, with Pipp following close behind.
"Okay, that's just incredibly convenient" Sonic said with a bored expression. "Hmm... maybe there are some..." he said, now opening the fridge and checking it. "Aha!" he cheered, pulling out a carrot from the fridge. He extended it to Floppy, which eye's sparkled at the gaze of the carrot and grabbed it to eat it joyfully. "Aw, you're such a cutie" Sonic told him, rubbing his head a little. "You know, if anyone told me I would get attached to a bunny from another dimension... I would totally believe it since it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that ever happened to me" he confessed with a smile.
In the mean time, Izzy placed some of the snacks from the box to guide the critters outside the Brighthouse as she hummed to herself with Cloudpuff on her head.
The critters started to follow the snacks and Izzy gasped on happiness. "It's working!" she said with a smile. However, some critters from outside noticed the box with the treats and stamped against Izzy, who not only lost the box with snacks, but also tripped and fell in the ground with a frustrated sigh. "The label didn't say anything about that" she said concerned.
"Look on the bright side, Izz! It looked adorable" Pipp told her with a smile, showing her a picture on her phone. However, a pega-mouse got on her hoof, and Pipp screamed totally panicked. "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" she pled, flying away from the mouse and throwing her phone, which Izzy caught with her magic.
"Adorable!" Izzy said with a smile, now recording Pipp trying to get away from the mouse. As she kept flying away, Sonic walked out of the kitchen looking at Floppy on his head, then the bunny noticed that Pipp was about to crash against them, so he jumped and landed on the ground, while Pipp crashed against Sonic and they both landed in the ground, with Sonic laying on the floor and Pipp laying over him.
Pipp shook her head a bit before staring at Sonic, who stared back, and then they both blushed a lot before Pipp stood up entirely and looked away nervously. Sonic stood up as well, and scratched his head a little bit.
"Aww! You two look adorable!" Izzy said suddenly, showing them a picture of them laying on the ground and looking at each other with blush.
"Izzy!" both Sonic and Pipp yelled at her, with their blushes increasing even more.
Meanwhile, Sparky kept following the pega-mouse around the Brighthouse, until he tripped and the mouse managed to climb upstairs.
Opaline, Misty and Eggman where all looking at the mouse's point of view as he kept climbing upstairs.
"Now that we're on the inside, it's only a matter of time before I obtain what's powering that prisbeam magic" Opaline stated with confidence.
"Then we can harness their powers and get your Alicorn magic back" Misty said with a little smile.
"I'll take my rightful place, reigning over all of Equestria the way Alicorns were meant to!" Opaline said with an evil grin. "And I'll make sure those little 'friendship ponies' won't get to use their magic ever again" she stated with confidence.
"Wait. Does that include me?" Misty asked a bit worried.
"Don't be foolish Misty" Opaline told her, for the very first time, showing a bit of compassion. "You'll be allowed to keep your powers once you get you Cutie Mark" she reminded her, and Misty cheered silently. "If you prove to me that you're worthy of one" she added.
"I will. I'll do anything" Misty stated with confidence.
"That's the spirit, Misty" Eggman told her with a proud smile. Suddenly, he heard a little bip from his pocket, and he knew what that meant. "I'm afraid I'll had to miss the outcome of your little plan, Opaline. I have signals of my bird about the 7th Chaos Emerald" he told. It was half of a lie since it did was an update about the Chaos Emerald, but his robotic bird wasn't the one who send the update.
Eggman walked towards his lab and looked at who really send him the update: Metal Pipp send an image of a cave, far away in the snowy mountains of Equestria, where images of some kind of prophecy were showed. However, since the cave seemed to be abandoned for centuries, the glyphs were blurry and deteriorated, so he couldn't tell what kind of prophecy this was.
"Interesting..." Eggman thought. "Perhaps this won't tell me where's the last Chaos Emerald, but it certainly hides some kind of secret... I just need to find out what it is..." he stated. "Metal Pipp: send more images of the glyphs" he ordered to the robot.
"On it, doctor" Metal Pipp replied, while Eggman looked on with an evil grin.
Back on the Brighthouse, the critters managed to arrive on the bedroom and caused a mess around.
Pipp was following some pega-mouses around to get them out, but she started to feel exhausted. "Why won't they leave?!" she cried out with frustration.
Izzy, on the other hand, was following a squirrel around. "We're never going to have a regular place to live again!" she said, strangely, with a smile. "This is just how it is now!" she added, chasing the squirrel once again.
Then, Sunny entered the room and slammed on the brakes. "Don't worry. I'm here to talk to the animals!" she stated with confidence.
"No offense, but isn't this more of a Hitch thing?" Pipp asked her confused.
"Not today" Sunny said. And then Pipp and Izzy noticed that Sunny had Hitch's Cutie Mark and gasped surprised. "Listen up, animal friends! It's time to skedaddle" Sunny told the critters with an authority voice. However, the critters laughed at her, which made Sunny feel but confused and frustrated. "But, ugh! But I know you understood me!" she said with concern, while Izzy placed a hoof on her shoulder to comfort her.
Meanwhile, Zipp arrived at the room with her phone, and started to record on it again. "It appears that Sunny has been Hitch-Switched, but still doesn't have his full powers. Hmm..." she stated with curiosity.
Then, Pipp noticed what her sister was doing and frowned. "What are you doing?! Taking notes?!" she asked her with panic. "Don't you stand there, help me!" she cried out, then a pega-mouse got on her hoof again, and Pipp fell on the ground because of the scare.
"Can't, I'm working" Zipp replied with a smile and looking around the room. "Hoof to heart!" she finished, then flew out of the room.
"Ugh!" Pipp groaned with frustration, placing a hoof on her cheek while the pega-mouse stuck on her hoof again, although she didn't seemed to care this time.
Then, Sonic came quickly inside the room and started to search around his own things on a cabinet. "Okay, let's see: Soap Shoes?" he asked himself, pulling out the shoes he used when he first met Shadow. "Nah, they're so last season" he stated with a bored expression, throwing the shoes backwards. "A replica of Shahra's ring? It's just a replica" he said, putting the ring back on the cabinet.
Then his eyes widened with confusion, and he took out a big yellow block with a '?' mark on all of his sides. He punched the block from down, and then a red mushroom with eyes came out of it, with the block turning completely brown now. Sonic slowly turned his sight to face you.
"Don't ask me how I got this because not even I know it, okay?" Sonic told you, letting the block go and feel back on the cabinet with the mushroom included. "Aha!" he said suddenly, pulling out a green blanket he wasn't using at all. "This can work. Hey, Knuckles, I found it!" he shouted, running back to the main floor.
"What are those two doing now?" Izzy questioned. "I barely have seen them trying to help" she pointed out.
"I don't know, Izz... Sonic seems to attached to that bunny, and Knuckles has been carrying materials the whole day" Pipp explained, then she dodged a pega-mouse. "Let's just keep trying, with or without them" she stated, while Izzy nodded in agreement.
Back at the smoothie stand, Hitch looked very comfortable making smoothies as he gave one to a mare, while Tails just looked with a smirk, knowing that he'll screw it at any second now.
"This isn't so hard" Hitch said with a confident smile, as he putted a fruit on the blender and read the steps to make the smoothie. "I don't know what Sunny was talking about. You just gotta follow the rules!" he added with confidence.
"Uh-huh" Tails said with sarcasm. "You know there's no rules on making a smoothie, right?" he said with mocking tone.
"Recipes! I mean recipes. Gotta follow the recipes!" Hitch corrected himself, while Tails rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Um, excuse me?" Dahlia called over to Hitch. "My smoothie is too smooth. Can you chunkify it?" she asked to him.
"What? But I followed the recipe" Hitch pointed out.
"There's the problem. Sunny always makes them on the fly. Hmm" Dahlia said on an offended tone.
Hitch placed the instructive for the smoothies down and looked at her with a sheepish smile. "Okay, I'll make you another one chunkier one" he assured, placing another fruit on the blender.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Toots said, as he stepped in front of the stand. "I'll take the usual" he stated with a smirk.
"What's the usual?" Hitch asked confused.
"It's the smoothie I usually get" Toots replied. "Sunny knows what it is" he pointed out.
"Sunny also chit-chats with us while she blends" and old earth pony mare pointed out. "You've been too quiet!" she complained.
Hitch started to look around in panic. "No recipes? Usual orders? Chit-chat? I didn't know Sunny had to do all this extra stuff, I thought it was just blended fruit!" he said with frustration.
"Finally he realizes!" Tails said with annoyance. "Hitch, I get being a sheriff stresses you, but that doesn't make Sunny's job less important or easier than yours" he explained to him. "And that stress barely leaves, even when I help her around" he added with a frown.
"Yeah, I see your point, Tails. I was wrong... this isn't as easy as she makes it look" Hitch confessed with guilty.
Then, Zipp arrived and looked at Hitch's stressed face. "Looks like this switch thing isn't working for you, is it?" she asked Hitch with a smirk.
"Yeah, you're right! I'll admit it, I just can't be Sunny" Hitch said frustrated. "So how did I get her Cutie Mark?" he questioned.
"I think I might have an idea. But take me through it one more time" Zipp replied to Hitch.
"These two were arguing like the married couple they are on who had the hardest work, and then Sparky kept erupting dragon magic and––" Tails explained instead, but a groan of Hitch cut him off.
"Could you please stop with that 'married couple' nonsense?" Hitch pled to Tails, who just smirked at him.
"Sure, just marry her so I can stop making the joke" Tails said with a mocking tone.
"That just makes it worst!" Hitch complained with a blush, while Tails chuckled.
Zipp wasn't paying much attention, since she heard them until the part where Sparky let out dragon fire. She used a graphic that showed Hitch and Sunny with their respective Cutie Marks, then Sparky spilled dragon fire and their Cutie Marks switched.
"Dragon fire magic?" Zipp questioned to herself. "That's it! That's gotta be it!" Zipp shouted to Hitch and Tails.
"Context, please" Tails said confused.
"Yeah, what is?!" Hitch asked her.
"Oh, uh..." Zipp said, unsure for a moment. Then she gave a grin and looked back at Hitch. "Sunny is in trouble at the Brighthouse! There are animals everywhere!" she told him, flapping her wings with acted worry.
"She is? There are?! I have to save her!" Hitch cried out in panic, immediately getting out of the stand and running towards the Brighthouse.
"Don't worry, everypony!" Zipp told the ponies waiting on the line with a smile. "Sunny will be back soon!" she assured, then flew behind Hitch while the ponies on the line sighed in relief.
"Phew! Good sheriff, but Hitch cannot make smoothies to save his hide" Toots pointed out, while Dahlia slurped a bit from her smoothie, but immediately regret it.
"Yeah, I agree" Tails said from the stand. He placed a sign that said 'Closed for now. Be back after lunch!' and got out of the stand, then approached the line of ponies. "And now that I have finally some free time: let's get into business talk!" he stated, pulling out a small notebook and a pen.
Back at the Brighthouse room, Sunny was having trouble with the critters that keep running around, while Izzy and Pipp were running away from some of them and Sparky kept chasing Opaline's mouse.
"Stop it, every critter!" Sunny pled to the animals. "I know you know what I'm saying!" she cried out with frustration.
Then, Zipp arrived with her. "Sunny! Hitch is in trouble! He needs you!" she told her with acted worry again.
"He is? He does?! Hitch!" Sunny said with panic, immediately running out of the room to go and met with her childhood friend.
"I hope this works..." Zipp said, then a pega-mouse crashed with her and made her fall.
Meanwhile, at the main floor, in an empty corner of the Brighthouse, Sonic and Knuckles finally gathered all the materials they needed to build up the play spot for the critters.
"Okey, we have it all. Now, shall we?" Knuckles asked to Sonic with a smirk.
"After you, 'Deputy Knuckles'" Sonic replied with a smirk and a mocking tone.
And then, they both started to use their Super Speed to build around the corner, making a lot of dust and sounds that covered that area of the living room.
Suddenly, Hitch entered through the Brighthouse main doors and climbed up stairs. "I have to help Sunny!" he cried out with worry.
"I have to help Hitch!" Sunny said as well.
Without knowing it, they both ran into each other and crashed, with Sunny loosing the sheriff hat in the process. The lay on the ground for a few seconds, until they slowly got up. Zipp also arrived, still holding her phone and looking at her friends a bit worried.
"Ouch! I hope I didn't make this worse" Zipp said a bit worried.
"Sunny?" Hitch called out to her.
"Hitch?" Sunny called back. "I'm sorry, I though you had it easier than me. You don't" she apologized with a guilty expression.
"I'm sorry too" Hitch apologized as well. "I don't think you have it easy at all! You're a pillar of the community!" he complimented her with a smile.
"So are you!" Sunny said with a little blush and a smile.
"Maybe we both are good at what we do because of who we are" Hitch pointed out with a smile.
"Well, nobody can be Hitch like you can" Sunny said with a soft smile.
"And nopony can be Sunny like you can!" Hitch said back, which made Sunny's smile grow bigger.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sunny asked to him.
"Oh yeah!" Hitch stated with a smile.
"Secret handshake time!" they both said with a smile. "Up high! Down low! Hitch it to a post! Flip it Sunny-side up, and on a piece of toast!" they both said cheerfully.
Then, their Cutie Marks started to shine, and slowly became back to be their usual Cutie Marks as Sunny and Hitch looked on and at each other with smiles.
Zipp also saw all of this, and smiled with pride at her friends and at herself. "Nice work, Detective Me!" she said proudly. "Maybe I'm starting to get a handle oh this 'Cutie Mark Magic' stuff" she added with a smile.
"So, you think there's still time to fix all the messes we made today?" Sunny asked to Hitch with a joyful smile.
"Only if we do what we each do best!" Hitch stated, smiling back at Sunny.
Hitch picked up the sheriff hat and put it on, and Sunny gave him his badge back.
Meanwhile, at the bedroom, Sparky kept following Opaline's mouse while Izzy and Pipp started to loose their patience on the critters, specially Izzy.
"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up!" Izzy complained dramatically with an anxious look.
"Ah!" Pipp cried out, while some bunnies jumped over her, and one even ran away with her phone one his mouth.
Then, Hitch arrived with them, showing that his Cutie Mark was normal again and now he could do his job properly "Sheriff Hitch is here, little buddies. Come on, now!" he told the critters, that immediately obeyed and started to get out of the room.
"Ah! It's a miracle!" Pipp said dramatically.
"I hear you've all been acting up" Hitch scolded the critters with a neutral expression, who looked down in shame as they walked out of the room.
However, Opaline's mouse got close to a certain spot where Sunny's lantern rested, with the crystal inside it shining like a Rainbow after the events of Maretime Bay Day. The mouse looked at it, ready to make his next move...
Back at the smoothie stand, Sunny finally returned to work, while Tails stayed aside and questioned some of the ponies if they needed anything to get fixed.
"Here's your chunky smoothie!" Sunny told Dahlia, now giving her the smoothie as she likes it. "Here's the usual!" she said to Toots, giving him his usual smoothie. "Ooh, is that a new book you're reading, Seashell?" she asked to the filly, who was holding a yellow book with her.
"Yeah! It's about this tree that grows special crystals called 'elements'" Seashell replied with a smile.
"Wow, cool! Tell me more!" Sunny told Seashell, as she also started to blend and deliver more smoothies.
Meanwhile, Tails was talking with Rufus about an old radio of his.
"So your radio has been failing since last week. It turns on sometimes, but once it turns off, you can't make it work again until two days later..." Tails said, as he read what he wrote on his notebook according to what Rufus told. "Did i forget something?" he asked to the stallion with a smile.
"Nope!" Rufus replied. "That basically sums it up" he added with a smile.
"Okay. I can check it out and then gave it back to you on... Monday at sunset?" Tails asked Rufus.
"Sounds good to me" Rufus replied with a smile.
"Okay then, I'll see ya on Monday then!" Tails stated, as he waved at Rufus and the stallion waved back, turning around and leaving.
"Wow, what's with these ponies and you?" Sunny asked him with a smile, noticing that many ponies had arrived to talk with Tails.
"I'll explain later" Tails assured her. "By the way, I'm glad you're back here, Sunny. Hitch is terrible with the smoothies, but don't tell him" he said with a little smirk.
Sunny giggled at him. "I won't, promise" she said with a smile.
Outside the Brighthouse, Hitch led the critters out while Izzy, Zipp and Pipp looked on.
"After you. Go ahead. Thanks for visiting, friends" he told the critters with a smile. Then, Sunny and Tails came back to the Brighthouse as Hitch looked at them - specially to Sunny - with a bright smile. "Well, well, well. It looks like we both did pretty good, once we started doing what we were good at" he pointed out with a smile.
"You said it" Sunny said with a smile. "Is that all of them?" she asked, referring to the critters.
However, they all heard a clattering sound, and quickly ran towards the bedroom.
Sonic and Knuckles, on the other hand, finally finished the play spot for the critters.
"Now that's what I call a good job" Knuckles stated with a smile at their work.
"What do you think about this, Floppy? Sonic asked to the bunny, who jumped on his head with joy.
"I'm guessing he loves it" Knuckles pointed out with a smile.
"Give me five!" Sonic said with a smirk, as he and Knuckles high five excited. Then, they heard clattering sounds too, and seeing the rest running towards the bedroom was enough to make them follow behind, with Floppy still on Sonic's head.
Once the whole group made it to the bedroom, they found many thinks thrown in the floor, and then they saw Sparky still chasing Opaline's mouse.
"Please tell me we're all seeing a fully pink pega-mouse..." Knuckles said with confusion, while the others made their replies, all saying yes.
The mouse arrived to the spot where Sunny's lantern was, while Sparky followed really close.
"Sparky, leave that mouse alone!" Hitch ordered him.
The mouse managed to reach the lantern, but before he could do anything with it, Sparky launched against him, and the mouse disappeared the moment Sparky touched him.
"Did you see that?!" Pipp questioned with disbelief.
"No way!" Sonic said with widened eyes.
"It just went 'poof'!" Izzy pointed out in awe.
"Was that a mouse? Or a ghost?!" Hitch questioned, which made Izzy gasp in awe.
"I don't think so..." Tails said. "It looked more like... dark magic..." he pointed out with worry.
"Dark magic?" Sunny questioned.
"Well, the smoke the mouse left was dark, so I guess it did was some kind of negative magic" Sonic pointed out.
"But who would use dark magic to create a Mouse?" Hitch questioned.
Before anyone else could say anything, Zipp and Tails gasped at the same time and looked at each other. "Opaline!" they both said with worry.
"Why am I not surprised at the answer?" Knuckles asked with a blank expression.
"Daily mystery total: three" Zipp recorded on her phone. "Cutie Mark switch, disappearing mouse with a high chance that he was made by Opaline, and this smoothie" she listed, as she slowly lifted a smoothie on her free hoof and slurped from it, then looked at it suspiciously. "Mm. It still doesn't taste right" she stated, then Sunny came and grabbed the smoothie.
She sniffed the smoothie and then smiled at Zipp. "I know just the thing!" she stated, as she opened the cup and putted some herbs on it, then closed it again and gave it back to Zipp.
Zipp slurped again from the smoothie and smiled. "Ah! That was it! Case closed" she said to the phone and ended the recording.
"Today was pretty wild, huh?" Hitch told Sunny as he approached to her with Sparky now on his back.
"Yeah! I couldn't even belizzle it!" Izzy said with a cheery tone.
"Belizzle it?" Knuckles questioned.
"Don't ask" Pipp told with a little smile.
"Well, at least everything is back in order again" Sunny stated with a smile.
"At least until next season" Sonic said with a bored expression, looking at you again. "Also, that sounds more like a Hitch phrase..." he pointed out at Sunny.
"Oh no!" Zipp cried out with panic.
"I refuse to pass for this again!" Tails cried out as well.
Sunny and Hitch looked at their Cutie Marks again, but then smiled when they were still theirs, and both Zipp and Tails sighed in relief while the whole group started to laugh at the situation.
Back at Opaline's Castle, Opaline and Misty where now staring at an image of Sunny's lantern.
"Ah-ha!" Opaline said with a grin. "Finally, it's all becoming clear" she stated. "Misty!" she called out to the unicorn.
"Yes, Opaline?" Misty asked, quickly arriving at her side.
"I need you to sneak into the Crystal Brighthouse and steal me that lantern" Opaline instructed her. "It holds power. Prisbeam power" she explained.
Suddenly, Eggman came out of his love with a curious look. "Did I just heard well, or you said something about sending Misty to the Crystal Brighthouse?" he asked to the older mare.
"Indeed. I need that lantern with Prisbeam power to feed my magic" Opaline explained.
"Would you mind if I instructed her to do something for me as well?" Eggman asked her. Opaline looked at him with a raised eyebrow and studied him, but she didn't found anything suspicious, so she simply nodded her head in 'yes'. "Excellent" he stated with a smile, then looked at Misty. "Dear, I need you to do me a favor: there's a chest hidden, somewhere in that Brighthouse, with the 4 Chaos Emeralds Sonic and his friends had collected so far" he started to explain. "I need you to find the Emeralds and brought them to me. No need to take the whole chest, of course" he instructed.
"I hope you focus, Misty" Opaline said to her. "You have two very important missions now" she pointed out.
"Yes, Opaline. Doctor" Misty replied to both of them. "I'm ready" she said with a confident face.
Outside the Brighthouse, Sunny and Hitch both carried carts with smoothies after Sunny got done working.
"Thanks for the help" Sunny told Hitch with a smile.
"I'm glad to help make sure things are running smoothly, just as long as it's not smoothies" Hitch joked as he chuckled at his own joke.
"I'm just happy that the Community Garden is officially open" Sunny said with a smile. "Even if the animals do still seem hesitant to go back inside" she added a little worried.
"Lucky for you, we already fixed that problem" Knuckles voice spoke, as he and Sonic approached Hitch and Sunny with smiles on their faces.
"You did?" Sunny asked. Then, they heard critter sounds from inside the Brighthouse.
Sonic and Knuckles looked at each other and nodded. "Hitch, we have a surprise for you" Sonic told him with a smile, as the two of them guided Sunny and Hitch inside the Brighthouse.
Once inside, they met the rest of the group looking at the corner of the living room, and when they saw on the same direction, they gasped in awe at the sight: the critters were playing around the play spot that Sonic and Knuckles build to them. There even were water plates, beds and a faucet that the critters could use as a shower. Also, Sparky and Floppy were playing with a ball.
"What is all this?!" Hitch asked with a big joyful smile.
"Well, we found out that these guys needed a place to play around and chill if the garden gets to overwhelming for them" Sonic started to explain with a smile. "So, I came with the idea of building up a little play spot for them" he added.
"And here it is: the Critter Corner!" Knuckles decided to join. "Now they can have a chill place if the Garden gets to magical for them" he assured.
"Or to hang out with their best buddy, Hitch!" Sonic added. "So, what do you think?" he asked him curiously.
"This. Is. Awesome!" Hitch said cheerfully, as he ran towards his critter friends and started to talk with them.
On the other hand, Zipp approached Sunny. "So it looks like you two worked things out, huh?" she told her with a smile.
"I think... we just needed a little trot in each other's horseshoes" Sunny said with a smile and a blush. "Even if we didn't want to admit it" she added, then looked at how the critters started to tickle Hitch and the whole group laughed at the sight.
Then, both Pipp and Izzy took a closer look to the Critter Corner. "Wow, this is so amazing and detailed!" Izzy said with a smile.
"I love how you guys took care of every creature" Pipp added, smiling as well.
"Thanks!" both Sonic and Knuckles said with smiles.
"You know..." Tails said suddenly. "I can expect this from Sonic. He can act all chill and careless, but deep down he's an adorable hugging dork" he added with a smirk.
"And I'm absolutely proud of that" Sonic said with pride and a smile, while Pipp at his side giggled a little.
Tails rolled his eyes with a smile and kept going. "However, I did not expected this from you, Knux" he told Knuckles.
"I may be a handsome, muscular red echidna with a sky-high ego, but I've got a heart, too" Knuckles replied with a smirk. "Besides, look a this guy's face: you can't say 'no' to those eyes!" he pointed out, now pointing at Floppy who kept playing around with Sparky.
"Hey, isn't that the bunny that ran from me before?" Pipp asked with curiosity.
"Yup!" Sonic replied. "He's too attached to me now, so I guess we'll also see him around more often" he added. Then Floppy saw him and quickly jumped on his head and settled on it.
Sins Knuckles and Hitch, everyone in the room said "Aww!" at Floppy feeling so happy and comfortable on Sonic's head, while Sonic himself smiled at the bunny.
"This is so cute!" Pipp squealed, pulling out her phone and taking a picture to Sonic and Floppy.
"I've never seen a bunny that happy" Hitch confessed. "I guess you have some kind of charm for critters too" he added with a smirk.
"Yeah, I guess Floppy loves me a lot" Sonic said, rubbing the bunny's head.
"Floppy?" Pipp asked.
"We don't know his name" Knuckles pointed out. "Sonic started to call him like that, and he always replies" he added.
"Well, I'm just glad everything's going well so far" Sunny said with a smile.
"Yeah. We did solved all of our problems... without a hitch" Hitch joked on a mocking tone.
Even if it was terrible, the whole group laughed at the joke, and enjoyed the rest of their day alongside the critters.
In the snowy mountains, far away from the New Equestria, Metal Sonic and Metal Sunny arrived to the cave where Metal Pipp found that prophecy Dr. Eggman was talking about. They entered the cave, and found Metal Pipp trying to dig into some vines.
"Pipp" Metal Sunny called out. "What the heck are you doing?" he asked with a bored expression.
"I'm trying to pull this vines away to scan the glyphs, but..." Metal Pipp explained, and then showed her metallic hooves to the other Metals.
"Ugh, the doctor might be intelligent in many things, but giving you actual hooves instead of some kind of robotic arms with claws like me... says otherwise" Metal Sonic said sarcastically, using his metallic claws to cut the vines and show the glyphic better.
Metal Pipp immediately scanned it and send the glyph to Eggman, while both Metal Sonic and Metal Sunny started to explore around to look better at the glyphs. Even tho many of them were blurry, Metal Sonic somehow recognized that the Mane 5 were part of the glyphs. He also saw the Unity Crystals and... Opaline. The other images were hard to tell, but he could swear he saw Sonic's shoe as one of the glyphs.
"Man, my systems must be rusty and failing again" Metal Sonic told himself.
"Um... guys?" Metal Sunny called to Metal Sonic and Metal Pipp. The two robots looked at Metal Sunny, looking at something deep in the cave.
They approached her, and while Metal Pipp gasped, Metal Sonic got a bit anxious, even for a robot. He saw a black diamond laying in the ground, around some columns that collapsed centuries ago. Metal Sonic was brave enough to approach the gem, and once he grabbed and scanned, he groaned.
"Goddammit!" Metal Sonic yelled out with frustration. "Pipp, call the doctor, now!" he ordered to the female robot.
Metal Pipp nodded, and soon enough she called the doctor and putted the speakers on. "Hello?" Eggman greeted from the other side of the call.
"Doctor, this is Metal Sonic... We have a big problem on our hands" Metal Sonic told Eggman with worry, while he stared down at the now dead Chaos Emerald on his hand.